Tony Sparano's first season as New York Jets offensive coordinator has been a disaster. Between calls for Tim Tebow at quarterback and injuries that gutted his depth chart, controversy hounded Sparano and his team as it heads into its season finale a wreck.

Headlines howled about using Tebow in the Wildcat scheme, which was seldom employed. Tebow was acquired to diversify the offense, which Sparano brought with him from the Miami Dolphins.

Tony Sparano's job is made harder because of injuries, but he makes no excuses. (AP Photo)

While the Jets' running has been decent, their passing game is last in the league. The Jets also are last in total offense. Mark Sanchez returns as quarterback Sunday against the Buffalo Bills, if only because replacement Greg McElroy is injured.

Tebow couldn't have helped a passing game whose most dangerous players are out of action or struggling. He remains an unpolished passer.

As Sparano hears criticism of his coaching and calls for his ouster, he points to lack of key starters as a critical failing for his offense. His No. 1 offense was together for one game — the opener, in which the Jets offense accounted for 34 of the team's 48 points against the Bills.

"What I am as a coach or any of those things, it’s for somebody else to evaluate and obviously there are a lot of people evaluating me," Sparano told ESPNNewYork.com. "All that being said, I think that when we had those pieces which was not very long, we didn’t have them together very long, meaning Tone (Holmes), Stephen (Hill) and (Dustin) Keller, having all the players out there together at one time, I thought that we were getting really close to where we needed to be."

"At the end of it all," he told The Star-Ledger, "I believe you see a guy like Santonio and you look at where his numbers were, or even a guy like Jeremy Kerley now, who I look at and I think he has 53 catches and is averaging almost 14 yards per catch."

Then, there's Tebow and the Wildcat. Despite expectations, it hasn't been a consistent part of the offense. In part, Sparano says the scheme Tebow ran in Denver isn't the same as the Jets use.

"You really can't do that all the time right now with a player that's a part-time player," Sparano said. "You can't afford to be able to do that all the time, and I think that's where maybe the lack of big plays come from, because you're not able to do it all the time."

In Denver, Tebow had supplanted the starting QB. He did not become the Jets' starter.

In fact, ESPN reports Tebow hurt the offense in his limited exposure. Numbers can be skewed, and Tebow enters Week 17 having appeared in just 70 plays — less than a 10th of the Jets' total. But yards per play, yards per rush and yards per pass attempt are all lower on Tebow's plays than those of Sanchez and McElroy.

Huge changes are likely after this season as the Jets look for answers. Tebow likely will depart, Sanchez might be saved only because of his contract and Sparano faces a grilling. Even coach Rex Ryan will be weighed.